Rotational rate sensor systems are generally available. German Patent Application No. DE 101 108 196 A1 describes a rotational rate sensor having Coriolis elements for measuring an angular speed, a first and second Coriolis element being connected to one another via a spring and being excited to oscillations parallel to a first axis, a first and a second detection device detecting a deflection of the first and second Coriolis element based on a Coriolis force acting on the Coriolis elements, so that the difference between a first detection signal of the first detection device and a second detection signal of the second detection device is a function of the Coriolis force and is therefore also a function of the momentary angular speed.
German Patent Application No. DE 10 2007 060 942 A1 describes a multichannel rotational rate sensor that is suitable for measuring rotational rates about axes of rotation oriented perpendicular to one another. In particular, three-channel rotational rate sensors or systems of rotational rate sensors enable a measurement about three mutually independent axes of rotation. Such rotational rate sensors, or systems of rotational rate sensors, are used for example to determine the position of a portable device such as a mobile telephone, a tablet computer, or the like, relative to a reference system. Here the calculation of change of position takes place as a function of the angular changes measured by the rotational rate sensors and provided as output signal.
A method for calculating the change in position is found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,726 A. Because angular changes are not commutative, it is necessary to read out the output signals of the rotational rate sensors from the rotational rate sensor with a high sampling rate. This sampling rate has to be significantly higher than the frequency range in which the movements that are to be measured are found. In this way, complex rotations (rotations about three axes) are decomposed into many smaller rotations. For example, human movements take place in the frequency range below 20 Hz. An error-free integration of these signals typically requires a sampling rate of 100 Hz. A disadvantage is that, due to the high sampling rates, the main processor of the portable device has to be active relatively frequently in order to read out and further process the output signals of the rotational rate sensors. This results in a comparatively high power consumption. In particular in portable devices, due to limited battery capacities, this results in reduction of the battery running time of the portable device.